You are here

Search VIFF Films

Search VIFF Films

Find Your Film

Use our search function below to sort the films by their English title, the names of directors, or their country of origin. Films can also be filtered by series, genre, or Vancouver International Film Festival venue. You can also browse by film series by visiting our Browse By Series page.

Omori follows The Ravine of Goodbye with a delicious comedy-drama about the perfect odd couple: Tada (Eita), who runs a shaky do-it-all service, and his buddy Gyoten (Matsuda Ryuhei), who usually gets in the way. The storyline involves phoney organic farming, pensioners, babysitting, yakuza and lesbian parenting. Two hours of sheer charm! Tony Rayns

Discovered inside a luminous bamboo stalk, a magical newborn lights up the lives of a childless couple—and perplexes them with the lightning speed with which she crawls, walks, talks and transforms into a charming young lady. Studio Ghibli’s other anime master Takahata Isao (Grave of the Fireflies, Pom Poko) bows out with a tender, joyful, exquisitely crafted folk tale for all ages.

Iran’s premier female filmmaker Rakhshan Bani-Etemad returns with this brilliantly constructed tapestry of intersecting stories and characters from different levels of Iranian society. All struggle against the strictures of contemporary Iranian life; all find some solace in love… "The characters of my… films are still alive to me… Tales returns to the characters of my previous films under today’s circumstances."—Bani-Etemad

Hormones are flowing in this powerful and provocative collection of short films showing teens grappling with issues of love, fickle relationships and questions of sexual identity—all of which are pretty important when trying to find your place in the world.

A variety of formative experiences are conveyed in this wildly diverse collection of short films that employ absurdist humour, affecting drama, cosmic flourishes and haunting surrealism to share with us the moments that will forever change these stories’ young protagonists. Featured films: 40 Candles, The Cut, Dorsal, Godhead, Petit Frère, Ship and Stray

Maybe location isn’t quite everything in these short films but it’s certainly integral. A haunted lighthouse, eerie acoustics lab and sleepy prairie community are but some of the atmospheric environments that these compelling stories immerse us in. Featured films: Bison, Broken Face, Chamber Drama, Eclissi, Fallow, Lifers, Light and Sleeping Giant

Beautifully wrought and meticulously controlled, Alejandro Fernández Almendras’ taut drama follows a bullied man as he wrestles with the moral implications of revenge… "A terrifically tense first half culminates in a truly brilliant scene… [and it] all ends with a dramatic pop as sharp as the first of only two gunshots in this menacing, morally agnostic film."—Guardian. Winner, World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, Sundance 2014.

Writer-director Soran Mardookhi brings us the moving story of Sherzad (Kamal Yamolky) and his estranged young daughter, Jina. A former electrical engineer in Iraqi Kurdistan, he’s now trying to make a new life for himself in his adopted home of Canada. Jina (Camillia Mahal) numbs her harrowing childhood memories with drugs. But even among other misfits, she has a hard time fitting

Maureen Bradley’s debut feature is a bittersweet romantic comedy with a transgender hero in an unimaginable predicament. Oddball couple Miriam and Adam have an ill-advised and pivotal one night stand that sees them both wind up pregnant. Engagingly shot by Amy Belling, the film features standout performances from Gavin Crawford (This Hour Has 22 Minutes), Naomi Snieckus (Mr. D) and Gabrielle Rose.

Marion Cotillard gives her rawest performance as a woman desperately trying to save her job and discovering the meaning of solidarity and self-worth. "A tense dramatic situation and a subtly magnificent central performance… add up to an outstanding new movie from the Dardenne brothers: impassioned, exciting and moving—a Twelve Angry Men of the 21st-century workplace."—Guardian. Winner, Sydney Film Prize, Sydney 2014.

One of the New Argentine Cinema’s mainstays, Martín Rejtman returns with this funny, deliberately episodic study of 18-year-old flute player Mariano (Rafael Federman) and his circle of friends and family. "A nearly uncategorizable seriocomedy whose string of non-sequiturs oddly mimics life’s implausibilities… There’s a great deal of humor built in to the characters, whose instability has a certain endearing quality."—Variety

A college dropout gets mixed up with a malicious con artist in Alex R. Johnson’s atmospheric Texas-set thriller. As it shifts perspectives and delivers shocks, it demonstrates dexterity fit for a barn dance and a sucker punch that would do any barroom brawler proud. “A cult following could be in the offing, and crime-movie aficionados will want to seek it out…”—Variety